Hinata House Hopes
by turbomagnus
Summary: A collection of my Love Hina shorts, drabbles and snippets. Characters, situations and pairings may vary, but Keitaro/Motoko will likely feature frequently.
1. Where There's A Will, There's A Lantern

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 27 February.

Sorry if today's project story is crap; one of my cats died today and it's got me in a bit of an emotional turmoil.

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. Green Lantern is the property of DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Where There's A Will, There's A Lantern..."  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Keitaro was flying though the air on another trip courtesy of Shinmeiryuu Airlines when it happened. He reached the apex of his flight and began to prepare himself for descent and impact when he found himself engulfed by a green glow and floating in mid-air.

"Okay," Keitaro looked down at the ground and blinked, "This is new."

Then he suddenly felt himself reliving every memory of his life replaying it as though looking for something that he didn't know what it was, some trace, some slightest hint of whatever the green glow was searching for in him. The green glow pulsed bright when the memories caught up to the moment.

'Urashima Keitaro, you have been chosen,' a disembodied voice announced.

As the glow began to move him through the air, Keitaro began stammering, "Wait, chosen for what? Why? How? Where are you taking me?"

-o0o-

When the green glow finally put him on the ground, Keitaro looked around and froze, his jaw dropping open at the sight before him.

"I'm sure I didn't leave Earth, but that looks like an alien spaceship crashed," Keitaro muttered, "That or one of Su's experiments got away again... but it doesn't look like a turtle, so I'm not sure..."

"Inside, Urashima Keitaro... Hurry... there is little time," a voice seemed to sound in Keitaro's head.

"Aah!" Keitaro clapped his hands over his eyes, "I'm being mind-read by space aliens!"

The green glow suddenly reappeared around Keitaro and picked him up, moving him towards a hole in the spaceship before putting him back down. Hazarding a look into the ship, Keitaro saw an occupant; almost human in appearance if not for the vibrant pink-purple tone of his skin, clad in a form-fitting green and black outfit, sitting, leaning against one of the walls as though it took all of his energy to do so.

"I am Abin Sur... I am not of Earth - but of a far distant planet - and I am... dying," he said slowly, forcing out each word despite immense pain.

Keitaro took a step forward into the ship and knelt down by Abin Sur, "What can I... How can I help?"

"It is... too late for me," Abin Sur gasped out, "No, there is... a more important matter."

"More important than your life?" Keitaro asked, unsure if he could believe anything could be that important.

"Yes..." Abin Sur reached over and pulled something close to him, "You see... this?"

"It looks like an old train lantern... but it's green.." Keitaro actually picked it up to look at it, then suddenly sat it down as he realised what he had done, "Ah! I'm sorry!"

"No, it is... right," Abin Sur told him, "As you say, a 'green lantern' in form... In fact, a Power Battery... given only to selected space-patrolmen in the super-galactic system... to be used as a weapon agaisnt forces of evil and injustice..."

Abin Sur was interrupted as pain wracked his body and caused him to fall to the floor. Keitaro moved to help him sit back up, but the alien waved him back.

"It is our duty... when disaster strikes..." Abin Sur managed to continue, "To pass on the Power Battery... to another who is fearless... and honest! Come closer to me, Urashima Keitaro..."

Keitaro moved closer and Abin Sur lifted his right hand, the green glow that had brought Keitaro there came from a ring on Abin Sur's hand and passed over him.

"Yes..." Abin Sur said, his strength fading, "By the green beam of my ring... I see that you are honest! And the Battery has already selected you as one born without fear! So you pass both tests, Urashima Keitaro..."

Shaking his head furiously, Keitaro argued, "I can't have! I'm not without fear - I'm terrified, I have people wanting to kill me just for being a guy and I'm always afraid they're gonna succeed..."

"But you have never allowed that to stop you; that is true courage, Urashima Keitaro," Abin Sur countered, stopping to cough up pink blood, "Only seconds left, I can feel it... so much to tell... Once you have the Battery, you will have power over everything - except what is yellow. There is a necessary impurity in the Battery, if it is removed the Battery loses its power! It is this impurity which will make you powerless over anything yellow."

"I..." Keitaro gulped, "I understand."

"Now take my ring... let me put it on you..." With his left hand, Abin Sur slid the ring off of his right and slid it onto Keitaro's own right hand when the young man held it out, "With this ring you will drain power from the Battery... effective for 24 hours..."

"Now... I've told you all... do not fail me..." Almost as though it were only the need to pass on his Power Battery and ring keeping him alive, as soon as he took his hand away from Keitaro's and was no longer touching the ring, Abin Sur died.

"Gone..." Keitaro whispered, "He's passed away."

He looked down at the ring he now wore, a look of dawning horror on his face, "I don't know how to be a space cop!"

-o0O0o-

Author's Note: I got this finished around eight-thirty, nine, plenty of time to post it in before midnight... but of course Fanfiction had to have another flippin' brain-fart and go down... and then it almost didn't come up in time for me to get this posted in time...


	2. House of Justice

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 25 March.

If there's similarities between this and my Ranma short 'Nerima Justice', well, that's because they were born of the same simple idea; what would happen if the Justice Field from the Red Dwarf episode "Justice" took effect in a couple animes where injustice seems to be the order of the day.

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. The basic story idea is borrowed from an episode of "Red Dwarf", specifically Series 4's 'Justice'.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"House of Justice"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

"Laws change, depending on who's making them. But Justice is Justice." - Odo, 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'.

* * *

-o0o-

Buildings can absorb the energies of their occupants, creating echos of them long after they are gone. At times, all that energy absorbed can make a building seem alive, especially older buildings. Buildings filled with hostility and anger become hostile themselves, buildings where people are welcoming and friendly become warm and happy... and buildings that are in a single family for a long time, passed down from generation to generation, can seem to develop a loyalty to that family and even seem to take action whenever anyone else there would attempt to harm a family member. The Hinata House Inn was one such building and it was angry and disappointed; disappointed in how the family had simply abandoned one of their own and angry at the situation the abandoned one found themselves in. The House hurt, both from the pain that was being caused to part of its family and from the damage that was inflicted on itself without care by the same people that were hurting the family member. Finally, the spirits that existed in and empowered the Hinata House reached a point of decision; something would have to be done before the damage to both the House and the heir became to great to repair. It was time for justice to be done.

* * *

-o0o-

The first hint of the new order of things in and by the Hinata House came when Narusagawa Naru once again blatantly ignored the sign on the door of the House's hot springs proclaiming 'Out of Order: Manager Cleaning Hot Springs' and upon finding said manager, Urashima Keitaro, in the hot springs sought to assault him for 'peeking in the women's hot springs' - ignoring the fact that the sign clearly said he was cleaning them and that the only reason it was the 'women's hot springs' was because his grandmother had turned the family Inn into a Girls' Dormitory and hadn't bothered to tell her own family about it, yet she also had still insisted her grandson become the manager when he arrived and discovered that change by accident; an accident that Naru intended to repeat with a much more painful outcome for Keitaro this time.

Clenching both teeth and fist, Naru stormed up to Keitaro with a growl, intending to punch the 'no-good, worthless pervert' clean out of Hinata Springs. When that growl caused Keitaro to turn around and cringe in anticipation of a painful launch, the Hinata House intervened and even though Naru's fist hit Keitaro with full-force, she was the one who went flying. While she ended up slamming into a wall, she didn't go through it like she had intended for Keitaro since the Hinata House didn't want to damage itself and it also didn't feel it would be just to make Keitaro have to fix another hole made by Naru's actions.

* * *

-o0o-

In another part of the house, Tama, the resident flying hot springs turtle found herself once again under siege by a Molmolian with a mind for turtle soup for supper. In her own way, the airborne amphibian was as much a victim of injustice - having never done anything to deserve being the target of Koalla Su's dining desires - as Keitaro was and it was easy for the Hinata House to include her in its protection as well.

"Mecha-Tama Missiles, away!" Su shouted while riding aforementioned turtle-hunting mechanical turtle, causing it to launch turtle-seeking missiles that began to home in on the actual Tama.

Dodging this way and that, Tama tried to evade the missiles, but it wasn't enough and it seemed as though Su would finally have her turtle soup dinner after so long a denial. Not wanting to see the end come, Tama pulled her flippers and head inside her shell and waited for the explosion of the missile's final impact. When it came, Tama stuck her head out and looked around in confusion, only to see the human that was always hunting her sitting in a pile of scrap metal, blackened and smoking.

"Wowers!" Su exclaimed, "That was fun, can Su go again?"

* * *

-o0o-

Later that night, Motoko frowned as the words she had written on the page seemed to begin began glowing, not realising that two doors away and one floor down, Keitaro was watching in confusion as words he knew he wasn't writing appeared on the blank paper in front of him that was supposed to be for him to write a cram school essay on. That confusion was quickly joined by embarassment and disbelief as he began to read the words that were appearing...

* * *

-o0O0o-

Author's Note: I had considered other scenes for some characters, things like Haruka feeling the head-slap she gives Keitaro for calling her 'Aunt Haruka' and swallowing her cigarette; Sarah's favorite doll or something breaking instead of an artifact she tries to hit Keitaro with; and-slash-or Kitsune losing bet after bet when she tries to swindle money out of Keitaro, but I just couldn't seem to make them work, so I ended up dropping them altogether.


	3. Cashing Out

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 3 May.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cashing Out"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

They had called him a thousand different insults; among them vile, dishonorable, coward, yellow... He had found that the ancient Greek for 'Yellow' was Xanthos; it was hard to say, but he liked it. It inspired him...

Looking back at Japan over the stern of the boat, the man who had until recently been Urashima Keitaro smiled as though a thousand burdens had been lifted from his shoulders, the person he was once was now no more. Whether America was 'The Land of Opportunity' or just 'The Last, Best Hope for a Quick Buck' didn't really matter. It was half a world away with millions of people for him to get lost among until the time was right for him to be known again, a time when he would be able to deal with things on his own terms - not the Urashima's, not Tokyo University's, not anyone else's but his own.

-o0o-

* * *

Years later, Fox Xanatos looked over her husband's shoulder, "Looking over your assets, David?"

Xanatos - only his wife called him 'David', to everyone else he was 'Mr. Xanatos' or simply 'Xanatos' - shook his head before turning it to look up at her, "Looking over a liability, and I think it's time to let it be someone else's liability."

"Should I ask or should I want to keep plausible deniability?" Fox teased, knowing that her husband's respect for the law only went as far as he could buy it.

"It was supposed to be the family inn, but looking back I was never really part of the family or part of the inn - Even though legally I was listed as manager and owner of the property, in reality I was just the guy who fixed things and got abused whenever anyone needed an outlet," Xanatos explained.

"So you don't plan on going back and doing this yourself?" Fox asked.

Xanatos laughed, "Why should I? That's what I have lawyers on my payroll for."

"Maybe you do, but normally you prefer to handle things personally whenever possible," Fox pointed out, "If you don't believe me, look at that battlesuit you made so you could fight Goliath face-to-face."

"For all the differences between Goliath and myself. There's always been a certain amount of respect there as well," Xanatos answered solemnly before tapping the paper on the desk in front of him, "This place, there was never any respect there."

"Then why has it taken you this long to decide to get rid of it?"

"I don't know," his wife was probably the only person in whose presence Xanatos would ever freely admit to a lack of knowledge or understanding, much less what he was about to say, "Maybe part of me thought they were right... Maybe I used to dream of going back there and taking over the way I should have from the beginning... maybe it was just a convenient reminder of my past when I needed one. All I know is that whatever it was, I don't have a use for it anymore, I don't want it anymore, so I've already found a good set of buyers for it."

The red-head raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Who?"

Xanatos grinned, "The Japanese clan needed a place to expand. All things considered, I think one hundred yen 'and other considerations' was a fair price to ask."

Fox rolled her eyes, "Does Goliath know that you're involving yourself with the other surviving Gargoyle clans?"

"Since he hasn't broken down the door to confront me," Xanatos answered easily, "I'd have to say 'no'."

Shaking her head, Fox replied, "What am I going to do with you, David?"

-o0O0o-

* * *

Author's Note: Sequel? Though the idea of a fight with Fox versus Motoko and Naru is an interesting one... I'd have to say, 'Probably not'...


	4. WTWTL II - Does Not A Lantern Make

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 8 May.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. Green Lantern is the property of DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Where There's A Will, There's A Lantern..."  
'A Power Ring Does Not A Lantern Make...'  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

For someone who had spent so much of his recent life unwillingly airborne, Urashima Keitaro found flying relaxing - especially now that he had a means to control his flights. It sometimes seemed like that his flights - willing or not - were the only things in his life that he had any control over; admission to Tokyo University was based on a test, the Hinata House was really under the control of the tenants since Granny had never left him with any way of enforcing the rules with them, and now he was supposed to be some kind of Space Police policeman except he had no idea how to do it, how to communicate with the people that his Power Ring and Battery originated from, or even how he was supposed to know when something was happening that he was supposed to deal with or how to do it.

When he was flying, he didn't have to worry about any of that; his biggest concern was not running into any planes or getting shot down by any militaries and it probably said something about Keitaro's life when those were barely worth worrying about. Flying gave him time to think, time to think about his life, about what he really wanted, about whether or not staying at the Hinata House would ever help him get it, even time to think about the big question of whether or not he really loved Narusagawa or whether - after being all-but abandoned by his family - what he really loved was actually just the idea of being in love and she was just an available person to focus on that - because of her own problems getting in the way of any real relationship - would never put him in a situation where he'd have to wonder if she loved him back.

Correction, there was one other worry when he was flying, Keitaro reminded himself as he caught himself falling and focused on his Power Ring and flight to keep in the air; self-doubt, fear, anything that weakened his confidence and willpower caused the Power Ring to weaken as well, which was dangerous when he was a couple thousand feet up above the ground and his thoughts drifted to things that were better left for when he was on the ground.


	5. Cashing Out II - Collecting

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 23 May.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cashing Out II"  
'Collecting'  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

"I'm here to tell you that at times like this, a mercenary needs to review his two priorities. Priority number one; get paid. Priority number two; live long enough to spend your money." - Captain Kaff Tagon of 'Tagon's Toughs', "Schlock Mercenary".

* * *

-o0o-

When the door to his office burst open, David Xanatos, born Urashima Keitaro, looked up from the papers he was reviewing.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking, Goliath?" He laid the papers down on his desk.

The leader of the Manhattan Clan snarled in response, "What's your game, Xanatos?"

"Chess," Xanatos answered casually, "Care to set the board?"

"Answer me!" Goliath roared.

Xanatos shook his head, "If you wake up my son, I'm not going to save you from his mother's wrath, you know."

The large Gargoyle put his hands on Xanatos' desk and dug his claws into the wood, causing Xanatos to wince slightly at the waste of good cherry, "Why are you involving yourself with the other Clans, Xanatos?"

Xanatos looked across his desk at Goliath, "Because they made an offer for the property I'm selling, Goliath, nothing more. It may surprise you, but for once my actions aren't part of a convoluted gambit, simply the result of deciding I have no intention of returning to Japan and so no reason to keep the property. If you're..."

At that moment, a bespectacled blonde man in a blue business suit walked through the door that Goliath had broken open until he reached Xanatos' desk, giving Goliath only a cursory sideways glance before addressing the other human, "My apologies if I've come at an inopportune time, sir."

Xanatos shot Goliath a quick look before addressing his assistant, "What is it, Owen?"

"There is a situation with the Sunflower House property in Japan, Mister Xanatos," Owen Burnett informed his employer, adjusting his glasses.

"Did it finally collapse from one too many people knocked through a wall?"

"No, sir," Owen answered, "Apparently the tenants have counter-sued against your eviction notices claiming that, by not being physically present for an extended period of time, you've abandoned the property and ownership should therefore revert to themselves."

"Do they even have a leg to stand on for that?"

"No, sir," Owen shook his head, "Their continued payment of rent and the fact that taxes have been paid in full each year leaves their argument with no legal basis."

Xanatos scoffed, "Contact Mister Yung's office, Owen. Let the lawyers handle it, that's what I pay them for, after all."

"Very good, Mister Xanatos," Owen nodded and gave his customary half bow before turning to exit the room.

"Where was I?" Xanatos turned his attention back to Goliath, "Right... If you're really that concerned about the situation, maybe you should try speaking to your fellow Gargoyles. Have you considered that?"

Goliath narrowed his eyes at Xanatos and growled before releasing his grip on the man's desk, turning and marching angrily out of the office. Xanatos, for his part, looked down at his now-badly damaged piece of furniture and shook his head.

"I liked this desk," Xanatos complained, sticking a finger in one of the claw-holes in annoyance.


	6. The Promise Not Made

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 2 June.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Bare with me folks, this is going to be a weird one...

* * *

-o0O0o-

"The Promise Not Made"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Hinatasou Girls Dormitory  
Present Day

"Urashima!" Aoyama Motoko snarled as she ran down the second floor hallway of the Hinatasou, "Get back here and face your punishment, you pervert!"

Five feet in front of Motoko, Urashima Keitaro was running in fear for his life. That Motoko was wearing little more than a cotton robe and her undergarments and Keitaro his own underwear was due to the facts that without his glasses, Keitaro couldn't see beyond a few inches, the residents of the Hinatasou unfortunately had a bad habit of failing to put out the 'occupied' sign when they were using the _onsen,_ and Motoko had a violent temper when it came to anything having to do with the other gender and her first resort to anything involving males and percieved 'perversion' was her sword and her family's techniques with it. With a cry, Keitaro dove sideways through the door to his bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him as he landed on the floor inside before creeping as fast as he could to the other side of the room where he took the chance to stand back up as Motoko began assaulting the door. Despite the wall and door between then, Keitaro heard it clearly when Motoko cried out the name of her attack...

"Air-Cutting Flash!"

The attack blew the door in and Motoko started to step into the bedroom after it...

* * *

-o0o-

Playground sandbox,  
Hinatasou Ryokan,  
At the same time, fifteen years in the past...

Five-year-old Urashima Keitaro played with the daughters of two of the families staying at his grandmother's inn and hot springs; perhaps more accurately, he played with one building a sandcastle while the other, two years younger than them at three years of age, watched and playing in the sand herself. The five-year-old girl playing with Keitaro started to say something, but suddenly a wind kicked up throwing the sand they were playing in around, causing some to get in her eyes and instead of saying what she was about to, Otohime Mutsumi ran crying towards the Hinatasou where her parents were, crying for her mother to help get the sand out of her eyes. Keitaro shrugged and kept packing sand onto the castle as he muttered about girls, never knowing that in that moment, the life he'd yet to live had changed forever...

* * *

-o0o-

Hinatasou Inn And Dormitory  
Present Day...

Aoyoma Motoko gripped her sword tightly and stepped into the Manager's bedroom, never noticing as a light flashed when she passed through the doorway into their bedroom. Laying in their bed, Urashima Keitaro looked up from his book as his fiance entered the room, adjusting the silk robe she wore over her nightgown, and smiled at her.

"How was your day, Motoko? Did the doctor figure out why you've been sick?"

Instead of going to her side of the bed, Motoko walked around to Keitaro's side and stood there for a moment, her eyes glancing across the bed to where her sword Shisui, a gift from her sister, stood on the stand where it had rested ever since her and Keitaro's engagement had begun and Motoko had stopped carrying it around with her all the time. It had been ironic, really. When Keitaro had first been summoned by his grandmother to take over as live-in manager of the Hinatasou, Motoko had hated the idea of a male in charge of a 'Girls Dormitory' and hated him even more for the ways her body reacted whenever he was around. It wasn't until her elder sister Tsuruko had arrived at the Hinatasou intending for Motoko to return home to Kyoto and officially take up the position of clan heir that something had happened to change things; not wanting to be forced into the position, Motoko had panicked and claimed she couldn't abandon her fiancee, grabbing onto Keitaro and kissing him before anyone could say anything to counter her statement. That night, he had confronted her in the _onsen _over her actions and Motoko had been forced to confess the feelings that had been growing ever since Keitaro's arrival. That night, the engagement Motoko had claimed to keep from being forced back to Kyoto became real.

"Motoko?" Keitaro repeated his fiance's name, shaking her from her thoughts and causing her to blush.

"We will have to get married, Keitaro," Motoko informed him.

"Huh?" Keitaro blinked at his fiance as he laid his book down on the bed beside him, "But we're already engaged, that means we're going to get married, remember?"

"No, Koi, you don't understand," Motoko took his hand and pressed it against her stomach, "We will _have to get married._"

"Oh-Oh!" It was a good thing for Keitaro that he was already on the bed, as it meant he couldn't hurt himself when he fainted.

Motoko put her free hand on her stomach next to the one holding Keitaro's there and sighed, "I am sorry, little one, your father is a good man, but he does not take well to surprises."

* * *

-o0o-

In another part of the world, Kanako scowled at the sight in the scrying pool, this wasn't what was supposed to happen; no Promise was supposed to mean no obsession with Tokyo University or Narusegawa, it meant he was supposed to be free for her, not getting married to that sword-swinging harridan...


	7. The Urashima Effect

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 4 June.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu and Star Trek and all associated characters and situations are the property of CBS studios, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"The Urashima Effect"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Earth Spacedock  
geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic Ocean  
planet Earth, Sol system  
2309

Starfleet Lieutenant Urashima Keitaro tugged on his officer's duty jacket, trying once more to get the stiff red material to sit right before he was called into the office he was standing outside of. Finally, the Ensign at the outer desk looked up and addressed Keitaro.

"The Admiral will see you now, Lieutenant."

Keitaro nodded and gulped heavily before walking through the door into the office of the Admiral assigned to command Earth Spacedock and the First Fleet. Coming to a stop three feet from the Admiral's desk, Keitaro stood at attention.

"Lieutenant Urashima Keitaro, reporting to the Admiral as ordered."

The Admiral looked up, "At ease, Lieutenant. I was just going over your record. Quite frankly, if it wasn't for the fact that some of Starfleet's finest officers have had dealings with temporal anomalies over the years, I'd find this rather hard to believe; a time dialation effect based on a family heirloom and an ancient ruin."

The former-Archeologist and _Ryukan _manager rubbed the back of his head, "Honestly, I have trouble believing it myself. I met my grandmother and took possession of the box on my way to a dig site, I spent thirty days studying the ruins of the Dragon God's Palace and when I left I discovered three hundred years have passed, everything I know is gone, everyone I know is dead... my grandmother, my parents and sister, my wife, everyone I knew."

"You recieved excellent marks at the Academy in many of your courses, even if your instructors did note that you have a bit of a nervous tendency in some situations, but you didn't score as well in the combat training lessons," the Admiral put his elbows on his desk and knitted his fingers together, "It's a dangerous galaxy out there, Mister Urashima. If you do like being in situations where you might have to fight, why do you want a starship assignment?"

Keitaro looked to the side, out the window of the Admiral's office and at the Earth down below, "My family's been dead for close to three hundred years... Since I arrived in this time, I've learned that my family's hot springs inn was destroyed during World War Three..., There's nothing for me on Earth but bad memories now, Admiral, all I have left is Archeology and I can just as easily study ancient ruins on some other planet."

"You realise that you've given me just as good a reason to deny your request as to approve it, Lieutenant?"

"Please don't, Admiral."

The Admiral sighed and picked up a PADD, signing his name to it electronically with a stylus pen, "Request approved, Lieutenant, but there's a condition. You'll be under the observation of the ship's doctor, if he feels that you're a danger to yourself or others; depression, lack of caution, any reason, he'll have you relieved of duty."

Keitaro reached out and took the PADD from the Admiral's outstretched hand, "Thank you, Sir."

"Report to the _Excelsior_ in the morning, Lieutenant," the Admiral answered, "You're dismissed."


	8. Mission: Inconcievable

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 7 June.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu and "Mission: Impossible" and all associated characters and situations are the property of Paramount Pictures, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Strangely enough, the inspiration for today's entry came from re-reading one of my own stories - "Reality or Bust".

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Mission: Inconcievable"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Urashima Keitaro glanced around to make sure that none of the more frustrating aspects of his life - to wit, the tenants of the Hinatasou Girls Dormitory which his grandmother owned and he managed - were in the area before he quickly unlocked the door to the officially unused Annex building and slipped inside out of sight. With practiced ease, Keitaro moved across the ground floor's main room to the steps and up them to the second floor where a few steps took him to room 201 of the Annex - the equivilent to his own manager's room at the Hinatasou itself. Once inside the room, Keitaro took extra care to make sure he had locked the door behind him before walking over to take a seat on the bed and open the top drawer of the nightstand to remove a manilla folder and a cassette player. Sitting the cassette player on top of the nightstand, Keitaro pressed the play button as he opened the folder and found himself immediately confronted with a picture of what he could only think of as some kind of mutant monkey.

"_Konichiwa, _Urashima_-san. _You are looking at a picture of Ku Lon, one of the leaders of a small independent state in the middle of territory otherwise occupied by a hostile foreign power. The people of this state have been responsible for a series of disappearances and murders stretching back at least three hundred years, but with no verifiable proof to permit an international response. At this time, Ku Lon is in this country, masterminding an operation for the abduction and imprisonment of this man; Saotome Ranma."

Keitaro flipped to the next sheet of paper in the folder and looked over the picture of Saotome Ranma; male, late-teens to early-twenties, dark hair, blue eyes indicating a hint of foreign ancestry.

"Saotome-_san_ is the acknowledged heir to the Founding Grandmaster of _Musabetsu Kakuto _martial arts and because of this will soon be declared a Living National Treasure. Should anything happen to Saotome_-san _before the declaration is made, the political and diplomatic repercussions could be disasterous. Unfortunately, assassination of Ku Lon has been abandoned as potentially resulting in similar repercussions. Your mission, Keitaro, should you choose to accept it, is to find a way to force force Ku Lon and her associates to abandon their plans for Saotome-_san_ and vacate the country. As always, should you or any member of your team be caught or killed, the Minister will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This recording will self-destruct at the end of the tape. Good luck, Keitaro."

Keitaro watched as the cassette reached the end and pulled the tape itself free from the first spool, activating the acid capsules inside that melted the tape into an unrecoverable mess in a cloud of bitter smoke. His nose wrinkled up at that.

'I wish they'd come up with a disposal method that didn't leave such a smell behind, really..."

Replacing the cassette player in the top drawer, Keitaro closed it and opened the bottom one, extracting a black leather briefcase which he laid on the bed. Taking another look at the pictures of Ku Lon and Saotome-_san_ in the folder, Keitaro laid it aside and turned his attention to the briefcase, opening it to remove a collection of agent dossiers from which to choice operatives for this mission. The very first dossier he saw made Keitaro cringe...

Tsubasa, the 'Man of a Thousand Women's Faces'. Keitaro shook his head before tossing that dossier back into the briefcase and moving on to the next potential operative.

Furuhata Motoki... mid-twenties, worked at a family-owned arcade and juice bar in Azuban-Juuban... Keitaro thought for a moment before tossing Furuhata's dossier into the briefcase, he couldn't think of a way that a juice bar and arcade could help protect Saotome-_san_.

Tendo Nabiki, Keitaro looked at the next dossier, had accepted 'community service' under the Ministry's supervision when charged with violations of certain laws. Tendo was a book-maker, blackmailer, and perhaps most importantly she was also Saotome-_san_'s fiance; she had a personal stake in making sure he was kept in the country. Keitaro laid her dossier on top of the mission folder as his first selected operative and moved on.

Aoyama Kuroryu, the corners of Keitaro's lips quirked up slightly as he came across Motoko's brother-in-law's dossier. Kuroryu was a photographer and amatuer scientist in addition to being skilled in kendo and cane-fighting. He was also someone whom Keitaro knew personally and trusted, his dossier joined Tendo's.

The next dossier which Keitaro selected was an interesting one because it covered two operatives; Tsujimoto Natsumi and Kobayakawa Miyuki were both members of the Tokyo Metropolitian Police Department stationed at Bokuto Precinct in Sumida Ward. In addition to their assignment to Bokuto's traffic division, Tsujimoto was a member of the Special Assault Team and Kobayakawa was one of the top police forensic specialists in the country. Their dossier joined the other select operatives'.

Keitaro looked at and turned down several more agents - including a Masaki Tenchi, a Hanabishi Rekka, and an Ikari Yui - before finding one final operative he thought would round-out the team properly. Fuji Hayata, a second-generation member of the Science Special Search Party whose mother had been the Search Party's original linguist and communications specialist had several dialects of the region from which Ku Lon's people came listed in his dossier, which could come in handy. Keitaro added Fuji's dossier to the other confirmed operatives and tossed the others in the briefcase before placing it back in the bottom drawer of the nightstand. Closing the folder on the mission information and the agent dossiers, Keitaro tucked it under his arm and prepared to leave the Annex to start contacting them for the mission.


	9. Convert

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 1 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Convert"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

None of the tenants of the Hinatasou Girls Dormitory knew what to think; none of them had ever prepared for something like this, had ever thought to prepare for something like this. They simply maintained their positions at the table - and in Shinobu's case, at the counter - and watched as the newly married - against her will - Urashima Motoko hummed to herself as she prepared a tray of two plates to take back up to the room she now shared with her new husband. Shinobu was wondering if Motoko had been possessed, Kitsune wasn't sure that the kendoka hadn't been cloned, Naru just couldn't understand how Motoko could be acting so happy at a time like this after being forced to either marry that pervert or give up her family legacy.

As she purred mentally while she pour two glasses of orange juice, Motoko couldn't believe she had ever been so against her current situation. Even if they hadn't been fair, it turned out that all the times they had accused Keitaro of being a pervert, he was at heart even if he wasn't actually acting like one at the time; her husband had a most 'creative' mind when it came to the things that happened between a man and a woman.

'How could I ever have wanted to damage that wonderful body?' Motoko thought to herself as she took the tray and made her way out of the kitchen, trying not to antagonise the soreness of her lower body as she walked, 'If only I hadn't been so foolish, I could have been enjoying this much earlier.'

She did hope that the food she was bringing would help Keitaro be re-energised enough to fulfill their marital obligations at least once more before she had to leave for school for the day.


	10. Art

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 21 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Art"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

There were many forms of art. Paintings, whatever the media and the style, were thought of as art. Sculpture was thought of as an artform. There were buildings and monuments that were considered as much works of art as they were considered feats of engineering marvel. Even dancing, in so many of its forms, was thought of a being 'art in motion'. She just happened to dance with a sword. After all, what was a kata but the steps of a dance? Dancing was simply moving one's body in a certain manner in time with music and her sword was to her an extension of her body. It was beautiful and he could never tell her.

It always struck him as strange that he had grown up in Kyoto himself, yet had never seen or heard of the Shinmeiryuu until he'd come to the Hinatasou and met Motoko. Next to Shinobu, Motoko was actually the one of his tenants that he knew the most about; her family's home was at risk of being taken by the government as a 'National Historic Landmark' and she actually hoped to become a lawyer to help her family keep it; when her sister married, she was named the heir to the Shinmeiryuu school, something that she didn't feel worthy of and wasn't sure she wanted to be - that was why she had come to live at the Hinatasou, actually; and that she was still a teenager with her whole life ahead of her and her family was trying to push her into what they wanted without giving her the chance to live that life - the difference from his Promise being that the Promise was his own choice, not someone else's.

He hated Tsuruko. He'd never forgive her for not knowing her own sister well enough to know what Motoko would do if she felt trapped and for forcing the situation. If she hadn't, he might have been able to talk to Motoko, try to settle things, help her deal with things... maybe even find out why her first reaction had been claiming that she couldn't return to Kyoto and abandon him-as-her-Fiancee... But instead of seeking the truth about why Motoko would lie to avoid returning to Kyoto, Tsuruko had forced the issue, and Motoko acted as he had always known her to since they had met; she met the challenge head-on trusting in her sword to see her though. It had failed. The hypocrisy was disgusting; first her family had pushed her into being the school heir when Tsuruko had married, then once that was all she knew they had actually taken it from her because she didn't think she was ready, forcing her into a life she had never been taught how to live.

Sometimes, he regretted the fact that they had defeated Tsuruko and won Motoko her place back in the Shinmeiryuu school. At the time, he'd still been too ensorceled by Narusagawa and the idea that her Promise and his Promise were actually the same Promise to have honestly considered it, but if he and Motoko had lost and were married, then as an Urashima the Aoyama would not be able to keep her from practicing the sword. It would not have been the Shinmeiryuu school, but she would have had the sword and they would have had each other.

Instead, she was now a twenty-eight year old 'Christmas cake' lawyer who spent her weekends practicing an art that was dying out and he was a thirty-two year old divorcee - fortunately with no children - that ran a _ryokan _and dormitory when he wasn't playing in the dirt as an archeologist, who had indirectly become the pervert she had always accused him of being when they were younger. He was thankful that Motoko still lived at the Hinatasou, even remaining after he had closed it as the 'Girls Dormitory' his grandmother had turned it into and reopened it back up as a hot springs inn and co-ed dormitory. Most weeks, the highlight of his week was when he could stand on the roof of the Hinatasou's main building and watch Motoko on the ground below, working her way through her katas. They were art, art in motion, a dance. To his eyes, eyes that had watched her grow from still-a-child to full womanhood, eyes that had watched her stay when so many others had left, she was art, a modern-day Galatea, perfection of body cast into human form. What else could he do when art practiced art but watch? Every weekend, he watched... and wished; wished that he could go back and stop himself from chasing Narusagawa, wished that he could go back and let Tsuruko win... wished that he could find it in himself to do something even now... but, unfortunately for him, he'd failed at too much in his life, failed enough for him to reach the point where it was often easier and safer for him to do nothing than to risk failing again with something important. So caught up was he in his thoughts that he never noticed Motoko come to the end of a kata and pause for a rest, he never noticed her look at the shadow of the building and frown, and it wouldn't be for another month and two dates that he would learn how she looked from the shadow of the building up at him and frowned thoughtfully that day, wondering if perhaps she hadn't missed her chance after all.


	11. McFly Not Included

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 23 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"McFly Not Included"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

It had started, as many things did at the Hinatasou, with shouts of 'pervert' and a chase through the halls. It ended, as many things did at the Hinatasou, with an explosion from one of Su Kaolla's inventions.

Su stared at the scorched spot on the floor, small flickers of flame still tasting the air in parallel lines to either side of it, where Aoyama Motoko and Urashima Keitaro had just vanished, "Oopsies?"

Narusagawa Naru and Konno 'Kitsune' Mitsune looked at Su in disbelief, but it was the normally calm and reasonable Maehara Shinobu who angrily demanded of the foreign princess/inventor...

"Su! What did you do to Sempai?"

When Naru and Kitsune turned shocked looks on Shinobu, she blushed and fainted. Kitsune looked at the unconscious middle-schooler, the awed Su, then the spot where Motoko and Keitaro had vanished from before looking at Naru and shaking her head.

Naru looked back at Kitsune and frowned, "How are we gonna explain this to Haruka?"

"Haruka?" Kitsune groaned, "I'm more concerned with how the _hell _are we going to explain to Granny that Su just blew up her only grandson and Motoko along with him..."

"Su may have miswired the F-Capacitor..." Su finally conceded with uncharacteristic quietness.

* * *

-o0o-

Almost a week later - five days, to be precise - Shinobu was morosely preparing dinner for the remaining residents of the Hinatasou, trying not to think about things like what her Sempai might have felt when he was blown up or whether or not Motoko's family missed her, when a double-crack of thunder caused her to startle and knock a pan of sauce off the stovetop and onto the floor.

"Oh, my," Shinobu exclaimed, grabbing a towel and dropping to her knees to begin cleaning up the mess.

She never noticed that outside was a sunny day with no clouds, she never saw the twin trails of flame appear in the second floor hallway, and Shinobu didn't see the two people appear, tightly holding onto one another for dear life, between the trails of flame.

"Did it work?" One of them asked quietly.

"I believe so," the other answered just as softly, "I believe we're... home..."

* * *

-o0o-

A few minutes later, Shinobu sighed as she stood up and put the soiled towel into a basket to be washed. It just wasn't the same anymore, part of her just wanted to let everything go and let it fall apart, it wasn't like she was helping Sempai by doing the cooking, the washing or helping with the cleaning, not with him gone now. Turning around, she almost ran directly into something that hadn't been there before, a something which was actually a someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she began, only to be interrupted.

With one arm wrapped around Motoko's waist, and her not resisting the touch but in fact leaning into the embrace, Keitaro smiled and rubbed the back of his head, "Hey, Shinobu, what's for dinner?"

Taking a step back, Shinobu took one look at the ghosts in front of her - they had to be ghosts, nobody came back from being blown up, right? - and did the only thing she could do; she fainted.

Releasing Motoko, Keitaro quickly caught her before she hit the floor, then smirked up at the kendoka, "What do you think, 'sick from the rain'?"

Motoko rolled her eyes, the hint of a smile playing across her face, "Will you never allow me to live that down?"

* * *

-o0o-

Despite - or perhaps because - Motoko and Keitaro had vanished without a trace, with no clue as to where or how they were gone, Haruka had put her foot down and kept Kitsune, Naru and especially Su out each of the last five days from sunup until sundown, looking for them. Returning to the Hinatasou as the sun was setting, they were all tired, hungry and ready for a rest.

"We're home!" Naru announced as they walked in the door, "Shinobu, do we have time to rinse off before dinner?"

When no response came, Naru called out again, "Shinobu?"

Instead of Shinobu answering, the girls heard voices drifting out from the kitchen

"Sip it slowly, Shinobu, you don't want to choke on it," a male voice cautioned.

Concerned for what might have happened to their friend without them there for her, the three girls ran towards the kitchen, Naru in front and she stopped suddenly in the doorway, leaving Kitsune to run into her from behind and Su to narrowly avoid doing the same to Kitsune by leaping onto the other girl's back and looking over her shoulder. What they saw was Shinobu sitting in a chair with two familiar people standing to either side of her; the three didn't know that they were making sure she was okay after she had fainted earlier.

Kitsune was the first one to finally find her voice again, "Keitaro! Motoko! You're okay! We were worried Su had blown you up!"

"Psht, Su's invention wouldn'ta blown Motokos an' Big Brother up-ups," the Molmolian Princess scoffed, "If something'd really gone wrong, it woulda _vaporised_ them..."

"They vanished into thin air, Su!" Kitsune shouted, "You don't think that's what being vaporised looks like? They were gone and we didn't know what happened, don't try to argue that one way of being dead is better than another!"

"But they's back-back now, Kitsune," Su pointed out.

"No thanks to you," Kitsune retorted.

"Would you two stop arguing in my ear?" Naru demanded loudly before turning her attention back towards the occupants of the kitchen.

When she thought Keitaro and Motoko were gone forever, Naru had found herself forced to rethink her stances on some things, on some people, and surprised herself by finding that she missed the _ronin _not as a friend or even as a housemate, but as possibly something more, something deeper. With her eyes focused solely on Keitaro, she walked slowly into the kitchen until she was standing in front of him, then threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Instead of returning the gesture, Keitaro stood there unmoving, his eyes drifting towards the dark-haired girl standing on the other side of Shinobu's chair.

Motoko glared at the girl that had been her friend, "Narusagawa... kindly remove your hands from my husband."

Naru's arms dropped from Keitaro and she took a step back in shock at the harshness in Motoko's voice.

"Husband?" she asked in a whisper.

That was when the three girls took their first good look at their returned housemates and realised that what had been a matter of days for them... had appearently been on the order of years for Motoko and Keitaro. It hit them like a truck crashing. In fact, they could almost hear it, almost feel it. It was as though...

Keitaro sighed and asked a question as easily as though he had never left, "Su... did you steal the stop sign from the intersection again while we were gone?"

"Nopes!" Su chirped, then dug her toe into the floor, "But.. uh... Su's Mecha-Tama mighta blown it up-ups?"

Motoko shook her head, "Do you remember where you kept the 'petty cash', Kei-koi?"

"I'll take the money down to the Station and pay for the sign," Keitaro sighed, "You can start filling them in on what we've been through, I'll join you when I get back."

Motoko looked at him with teasing eyes, "I assume you do not include answering Kitsune's questions about _personal matters_ in that statement."

Reaching over Shinobu's head, Keitaro put a finger on his wife's lips, "Please don't, Ao-chan."

Kitsune blinked to break herself from staring at the two, "Kei-koi? Ao-chan? Su... what... did you do?"


	12. The Tree

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 24 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"The Tree"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Most of the residents of the Hinatasou avoided the Annex and the area around it. That was a good thing, as far as he was concerned, because it gave him a place to go to relax that they never looked for him. The cherry tree was an old one, planted back when his ancestors had first built the _ryokan _hundreds of years before, and just laying on the ground underneath it gave him a sense of peace and belonging, connected him with his ancestors when he started to wonder...

When he started to wonder about things like his Promise, the division with his parents, the abuse he recieved from Haruka, the anger he sometimes felt for his grandmother putting him in this situation with the girls by turning the Hinatasou into a Girls' Dormitory without ever letting the rest of the family know - though Haruka also had earned some emnity from that one since she'd never bothered to tell anyone either... He went to the tree.

When he started having dreams involving children with black hair practicing with bokkens because they parents wouldn't let them have blades yet, despite the fact that neither he nor his girlfriend had black hair or practiced the sword, Keitaro went to the tree. When he started to wonder what that meant for his relationship with Naru, Keitaro went to the tree. When he started to wonder what that meant about him and _Motoko_, Keitaro went to the tree.

When he had no one else to go to for answers, Keitaro went to the tree and poured out his soul, sometimes wondering how many Urashima before him had done the same thing.


	13. Announcing The Engagement

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 25 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Announcing The Engagement"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Urashima Keitaro was an early riser by anything but choice; he was risen by chaos, by schedule, sometimes by the smell of food... but the simple truth was that most of the time, he'd rather sleep in. So it was, perhaps, a unique quirk for something that didn't enjoy getting up early that he did so nearly every morning. Doing so allowed him a chance to peacefully enjoy his morning before the usual chaos began, a glass of warm tea, the daily paper, the first light of day, things he had learned to never take for granted. He never expected that day's paper to cause him to spit his tea across the room, fortunately maintaining enough of a mind to remember that other residents of the Hinatasou were still sleeping and some of them were underage, so yelling out a rather profane exclamation in demand of information would probably not be the best course of action.

Throwing the paper down, Keitaro began to stalk back and forth, unsure of what to make of what he had just read. If he didn't know better, he would suspect this was one of Kitsune's tricks, but he didn't think even she would go this far for entertainment. What Keitaro did know for certain was that it wasn't true, what he had read. If it had been, he would have certainly known, he would have been there for it. Frowning, Keitaro took another quick look at the newspaper to find their number, then walked over to the phone.

Twenty minutes later, after innumerable recitations of the standard lines and an exhausting run-around, Keitaro had finally managed to get in contact with someone at the newspaper who could actually help him. The feeling of relief this brought to him was short lived as while he was caught up in conversation, Aoyama Motoko entered the room and picked up the same newspaper which Keitaro himself had been reading earlier. He was about to ask her not to read it when the department editor at the newspaper came back on the line and began to answer Keitaro's question of who had sent in the notice that he had read. Motoko's face with through an impressive array of colors and expressions as she looked at the newspaper and read the same announcement which Keitaro had, then finally settled on 'red' and 'murderous' as she looked up from the paper to the Hinatasou's manager. There was fire in Motoko's eyes as she drew her sword from its sheath at her waist and started slowly stalking towards Keitaro...

"Urashima! How dare you commit this... this travesty!" She snapped at him, at the same time the newspaper told him the name he had wanted, then Motoko lunged towards him.

"Uh, thanks! Bye!" Keitaro quickly said into the phone before tossing it at Motoko, slowing her down for as long as it took her to cut through the handset.

"Meet your death like the man you pretend to be, Urashima!" Motoko snarled at him.

"Agh! It wasn't me!" Keitaro shouted as he barely avoided the tip of Motoko's blade, "Tsuruko! The paper said Aoyama Tsuruko placed the announcement!"

"My _sister_?" Motoko looked at him for a moment, unsure of whether or not to believe him.

"They said it was her, honest!" Keitaro repeated his claim, "Call them yourself if you want!"

They both looked down at the phone that Motoko had sliced in two.

"Uh... maybe use one of the other phones?" Keitaro suggested.

Motoko started into another room, intending on placing her own call - not to the newspaper, but to the appearant source of the problem, and didn't react when Keitaro carefully followed her.

* * *

-o0o-

"Oh, hello, Little Sister," Tsuruko answered the phone too-cheerfully, "I take it you're well?"

"Were you behind this, sister?"

"I don't have the faintest idea what you mean, Motoko-han," the elder Aoyama sister replied, smiling, "Is something wrong?"

"You know what is wrong, sister!"

"No, Little Sister," Tsuruko smiled still as she shook her head, "I don't believe I do."

"My and Urashima's engagement was announced in this morning's newspaper," Motoko reminded her venomously.

"It was?" Tsuruko's delight was obvious, even over the phone line, "How wonderful for you, Little Sister, you must remember to tell me how he asked and you said 'yes'. Though I'm a little disappointed; I expected better of you than to tell your own family _after_ the newspaper, we didn't even know the two of you were a couple!"

"_We are not a couple_!" Motoko shouted into the phone so loud that it echoed.

"Motoko, dear, you shouldn't shout like that, it's not proper," Tsuruko chided, pointedly ignoring the body of her sister's exclaimation.

"We are _not_ a couple," Motoko repeated herself at a slightly-less deafening volume.

The other Aoyama put disappointment in her tone, "Oh, Motoko-han, you're breaking the engagement already? I haven't even had the chance to inform Mother and Father of your coming nuptials, they would've been so excited..."

"There are no 'coming nuptials'," Motoko was starting to get angry, "There is no engagement, we are not a couple... and you, sister, are a sick person."

"Perhaps," Tsuruko replied teasingly, "But at least I have a husband to 'play Doctor' with, Little Sister."

"Tsuruko!" Motoko shouted again, this time with a blush so deep that it made Keitaro, watching, wonder what Motoko's sister had said to her.

"There's still time to reconsider before you make the newspaper print a retraction, you're aware," Tsuruko continued her teasing.

Words failed Motoko and she let out a growl of frustration as she slammed the phone down, never to hear her sister break into amused laughter from Motoko's reaction, "I _hate _her sometimes..."

"So..." Keitaro rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Did she say why she did it?"

Motoko spun around, drawing her sword as she did, and pointed it at Keitaro, "And I am not exactly happy with your continued existance at this point in time, either, Urashima!"

When Motoko lowered her sword and stalked past him, muttering about 'insane sisters' and 'perverted managers', Keitaro was left frowning in confusion, asking himself, "What'd I say?"


	14. The Karate Kei

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 27 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. "The Karate Kid", original version, and associated characters and situations are the property of Columbia Pictures.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"The Karate Kei'"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

In a way, it was all Otohime Mutsumi's fault. The Okinawan watermelon-fanatic was the one who suggested all the other residents of the Hinatasou go with her to her home island for a visit. She couldn't have known at the time, however, that this visit would be the genesis of a change that would forever alter the balance of power at the Hinatasou. This is the story of that genesis...

Urashima Keitaro woke with a warm towel on his forehead and pain throughout his body; the towel was a new experience, the pain wasn't. Even if recent events were still a blur in his mind, the familiarity of the pain told him at least part of what had happened; another air trip from Motoko or Naru had been cut short by his impacting with a solid object.

"Lie still," a soft female voice ordered, putting a firm hand on his shoulder when he attempted to sit up, "You have been injured."

"Where..." Keitaro's voice cracked, "Where am I?"

"Miyagi Dojo," the woman answered, "You have been unconscious for two days."

"Two days?"

"Yes...?"

"Nobody's come looking for me?"

"I'm afraid I have heard of nobody searching for a missing young man," she told him.

"No one?" Keitaro knew that most of the girls didn't like the idea of a male live-in manager, Granny Hina's grandson or not, but he'd never actually thought they hated him being there enough that they'd do something like this, just knock him through the air and then abandon him, forget about him...

He could've been laying somewhere, dead; impaled on some unknown object, or his neck broken from landing wrong... or worse, not dead, but dying; slowly, bleeding out from any number of different kinds of injuries. And they hadn't cared enough to come looking for him, even after two days. Sometimes, pain makes the mind sluggish and the world hazy, but other times, pain brings an astounding clarity to life. There are those that say that pain is weakness leaving the body. If that was true, then the pain that Keitaro was feeling was from his flight and stop, but a pain from weakness of the mind leaving the body. The realisation that it left behind it was a painful one in and of itself...

No one cared.

His parents obviously didn't care; otherwise, they would have tried helping him instead of putting so much effort into denigrating him over his reason in trying for Tokyo University. His grandmother couldn't care, otherwise she would have told the family that she was changing the _ryokan _into a Girls' Dormitory - and even actually helped the girls get over their problems instead of just making them feel better. Haruka was in the same proverbial boat; even worse, because she was actually there to see what happened to him and she did and said nothing to stop it. The girls themselves? Well, they had made their opinions clear from the first day, hadn't they? Complete with assault and attempted murder.

All of the fight, all of the drive went out of Urashima Keitaro at that realisation. If nobody else cared, was was the point in him doing so himself? Keitaro sunk back into the mat and pillow on which he was laying and closed his eyes. His ears, though, remained open.

"How is he?" a male voice asked softly.

There was silence for a moment as the female thought over her words, "He is broken, Daniel-chan. His eyes... the pain I see in them... What could have happened to such a young man to cause him that much pain?"

"You don't want to know," Keitaro interrupted softly.

"Kumiko-chan," the man's voice commented, "Why don't you go prepare some tea?"

Understanding that it wasn't a dismissal, but recognising that she was better at preparing tea than he was and that they would likely need it, Kumiko nodded to her husband and left the room, leaving the two men alone.

"You can open your eyes, you know."

Keitaro did so, and moved his head just enough so that he could see the man, the _gaijin_ standing by the doorway.

This 'Daniel-chan' picked up a broken tree limb that had been leaning against the wall next to the door and commented with a calm smile, "I hope the tree attacked you first..."

"Urashima Keitaro," he introduced himself before apologising for the damage done to the tree, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Over the years, I've learned that all things happen with a purpose. This will provide wood for the fire when winter comes. The only thing anyone needs to be sorry about is not learning from it when something happens," he said, returning the piece of wood to where it had been.

"Oh, I've learned something, definitely," Keitaro muttered bitterly.

"Then whatever happened had a purpose," Daniel informed him.

"Some purpose," Keitaro grumbled.

"Sometimes one has to fall before they can learn how to stand up," Daniel shook his head in disapproval at Keitaro's tone, "I learned that one the hard way."

Keitaro managed to work himself into a sitting position before asking, "So how did you 'learn how to stand up'?"

"I met a man who taught me..." Daniel's face took on a sad smile, "Everything I didn't realise I needed to know."

"What did he teach you?"

"How to wax cars, paint fences and houses, a dozen other mundane things as well... and during all of that he also taught me Karate and helped me find my balance."

Keitaro looked up at him, a rushing tide of thoughts going through his head and only one forming solid enough to be spoken, "Can it... can you help me like that?"

"You think learning Karate will help you?"

"Uh... I guess?"

The older man shook his head, "As my Sensei used to tell me when I was younger, 'Walk on left side of road, okay; walk on right side of road, okay; walk middle of road, squish, just like grape. Learn Karate yes, okay; learn Karate no, okay; learn Karate guess so, squish, just like grape'."

Keitaro's face scrunched up, getting squished like a grape didn't sound any better than the situation he was in already.

"I'll have to think about it," Keitaro evaded as he stood up, "I really need to get back to the others I'm with, especially if it's been two days."

Daniel and Keitaro exchanged a bow, and Daniel stood there after Keitaro left the room, thinking to himself, only to be pulled from his reverie when the door opened again.

"He has left?" Kumiko asked.

"Yeah," Daniel nodded, sadly, "Probably not the smartest thing he could do, but it's not my place to stop him."

Kumiko looked at her husband in curiousity, "How do you know that leaving is not smart for him?"

"Because it wouldn't have been smart for me, Kumiko-chan," he answered softly, "And just by looking at him, I can see a lot of me when I was about that age in him. It's not whoever did that to him that's his greatest enemy; it's himself, just like I was mine. I can only hope he comes back, that he can be helped not to make some of the same mistakes I made..."

Kumiko smiled at him, "You become more like Miyagi-san every day, Daniel-chan."

"High praise indeed," Daniel returned his wife's smile, "I just hope Urashima-san doesn't become more like me."

"You turned out okay," she reminded him.

"Sometimes it really is the journey, not the destination that matters," he replied.

Kumiko said nothing in reply, only slipping an arm around his waist to give her husband the comfort he needed from the memories that were resurfacing.

* * *

-o0o-

Keitaro wasn't sure what to expect when he had arrived back at the Otohime household, but he could never have thought to expect this, even with his recent morbid thoughts, this was beyond his expectations. He hadn't seen any of the girls outside and the door was locked, so he had knocked on it until Mutsumi's father had opened it.

"Urashima-san?" Otohime-san asked, frowning, "What are you still doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I still doing here? Where is everyone?"

"Oh, they left yesterday for Japan," Otohime-san answered.

Keitaro stared at Mutsumi's father in shock and disbelief; they more than forgot him... They had left him...

* * *

-o0o-

With nowhere else he could think of to go, Keitaro knelt by the door of the Miyagi Dojo and waited, breathing in, breathing out, focusing himself. Eventually, the door slid open.

"Urashima-san?"

Keitaro opened his eyes and looked up at the older man, then said three words, "Learn Karate... yes."

"Why?"

"I need... I need something that's mine, nobody else's," Keitaro admitted, "Something that nobody can take away or tell me will never happen."

"Hm. Not the best reason, but one I can work with. The decision is right even if the reason isn't. Karate here," Daniel touched his chest, then his temple, "Karate here. No matter what happens, no one can take Karate from you."

"Alright, then what do we do first?"

"'First learn stand,'" Daniel smiled in that way that said he was repeating the words of his own Sensei, "'Then learn fight'."

"Learn stand, okay, how we gonna do that?"

"I hear the surf's up at the coast," Daniel answered.

"Okay, let's go," Keitaro said with enthusiasm, then paused, "Wait, what?"

"We're going to the beach, Keitaro-san," Daniel explained.

* * *

-o0o-

Keitaro looked at the ocean swells and the empty beach in disbelief before turning to Daniel, "I thought you were going to teach me Karate?"

"You're going to learn Karate, yes," Daniel answered, "But I won't be teaching you. _I_ am going to fish..."

Daniel pointed at the ocean, "_That_ is going to teach you."

"What? What am I supposed to learn from a bunch of water?"

Daniel smiled, "Balance. 'Balance good, Karate good, everything good. Balance bad, might as well pack up, go home'. You have no balance, Keitaro-san. Before you can find Karate inside of you, you must first find balance."

"So that's why we're here? For me to learn balance by, what? Trying not to get knocked down by the waves?"

"Hm, partly," Daniel answered, "Also because the fishing here is good."

With that, Daniel opened the bag he had brought and began to assemble a fishing pole, pausing to point out at the water. Keitaro shook his head and shucked his shirt, walking off down the sand and into the sea. Hours later, as they prepared to leave, Keitaro had begun to understand, but he still had one question.

"What was that kick thing you were doing, Sensei? Can I learn it?"

'So much like me it's scary,' Daniel thought before giving Keitaro the same answer he had recieved so long ago, "'First learn stand, then learn fly'."

* * *

-o0o-

Two months later, Keitaro had learned how to stand, how to fly, how to fight... and more importantly, when to fight and why. He had also learned how to wax cars, paint houses and fences, play a drum and a dozen other things that he'd never look at the same way again. A month after that, Keitaro had finally declared himself ready to return to Japan, especially since for the first time in a long time he actually knew who Urashima Keitaro was; and he wasn't a Promise or a family inn, the things he had let define him for so long; he wasn't even as student of Miyagi-do Karate - he was a person, he was a human being, and he was finally going to start living as one. Though, he supposed, it was probably too much to hope to have been able to get to his room and put his stuff away without a confrontation.

Narusagawa Naru stood there, eyes narrowed and fists on her hips, with Konno Mitsune sitting on the couch behind her, "Finally you get back here! What have you been doing for the last three months?"

Keitaro actually managed a smirk before managing a double-twisting of the truth with a half-lie-flip to give an incomplete, yet completely honest answer, "Chores."

"Kei-tar-o!" Naru growled his name as she charged at him, fist raised.

'Show me 'paint the house',' his sensei's voice spoke in Keitaro's mind.

Steadying his breathing, Keitaro raised his hand; then, as Naru swung, he 'painted the house'. The palm of Keitaro's hand impacted with the side of Naru's fist, forcing it to the side and past Keitaro, causing Naru to overbalance and fall on her face.

Kitsune's eyes were fully open, Keitaro absently noted as the self-proclaimed 'Fox of the Hinata' stared at the fallen Narusagawa, "I can't believe it... What just happened here?"

"I guess the floor's uneven," Keitaro answered in a deadpan, "I'll check it out after I've put my things away."

Stepping past Naru, Keitaro headed for the stairs and his room, leaving the two girls still confused as to what had just happened.


	15. On A Night Like This

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 29 July.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"On A Night Like This"

By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

When Aoyama Motoko was younger, she'd learned to associate bad things happening to her with males... the best friend she had - her own older sister - had suddenly decided to abandon her to spend all of her time with a boy instead; a man had been the one sent by the national government to inform the Aoyama clan and the Shinmeiryuu school of the government's intention to claim their dojo as a national historic treasure; when that boy turned into a man, she lost her sister to him completely and suddenly found the entire legacy - and saving it - of her family and her school thrust on her shoulders when she was barely in her teens. Between all of that, it was all she needed to learn that males were trouble, only interested in how they could take away anything important to her. Learning about the differences between males and females gave her an idea of what would happen next, what they would come looking to take. Unlike her sister, though, Motoko had no intention of letting any male anywhere close. Unfortunately for her, though, when hormones finally hit, they hit with a vengence.

At first, she had been able to cover it up; claiming she had gotten 'sick from the rain', hoping it would all go away. But it hadn't, and Motoko found herself beginning to be torn between what she found herself wanting and how she had always presented herself, with the added complication that the source of the problem had his eyes on another girl. Then Tsuruko had come to take her 'home' and all of Motoko's self-control had gone down in the west, behind the hills, into shadow. She didn't want, couldn't be, seperated from him, not without taking the chance to tell him how she felt. She panicked, and then she made it worse by panicking again when he confronted her about her previous actions. It just grew from there until she was in the worst possible situation; finally free from everything that had been a millstone around her neck, only with him trying to return everything to the way it was before because he thought that's what she wanted.

It wasn't like she could just come right out and say that she didn't want that, she wanted him, not with the fact that he was still trying to develop a relationship with Narusagawa. She couldn't just say that when night fell and everything slowed down, she had dreams about him coming to her room. She couldn't say that when she practiced some of her sword katas, she wasn't seeing her sword and an opponent, but him and a ballroom. She couldn't tell him that she wanted him to hold her close, never let her go...


	16. A Woman's Life

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 21 August.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"A Woman's Life"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

"...Now we all line up single file and sing a Helen Reddy song." - North Elbonians reading the 'instructions', written by Tina the Tech Writer, to the laser cannon they stole from Dilbert's company, "Dilbert".

-o0O0o-

* * *

As soon as the door opened, the woman behind the desk at the Hinatasou Ryokan's main building began to greet the guests before she had even turned around fully, "Welcome to the Hinata... oh, it's _you..._"

As she finished turning and saw who stood there, Urashima Motoko narrowed her eyes, "What do _you _want here, Aoyama?"

"Is that any way to speak to one's sister, Motoko-han?" Aoyama Tsuruko replied.

"I _have_ no sister," Motoko snarled in reply, "I was cast from the Aoyama and the Shinmeiryuu school. You should remember as you were the one _who cast me out_. Now leave."

Tsuruko ignored the order, "I have been sent to bring you home, Motoko-han, you have been restored to the family."

"_This_ is my home," Motoko answered sharply, "_Here_ is my family. I am not your pet to be put aside or come when called. You cursed me to live not as a warrior, but as a woman..."

Motoko drew herself up, "And I _am_ a woman. I know who and what I am, and I no longer need your family or your sword to tell me that... Do you agree, Keitaro-koi?"

For those that loved it and were loved by it in return - whether it was called a hot springs inn or a dormitory - the Hinatasou spoke to them. There were no words, it wasn't as though it were an anthromorphisied object, rather impressions of needing to be somewhere or of something happening. Some might call it instincts or a sixth sense, but those that knew the Hinata _knew._ Guided to the lobby area by the Hinata, Urashima Keitaro appeared as though from out of nowhere thanks to the secret passages that traversed the old family inn.

The years had been good to Keitaro and instead of a scrawny bookworm, the man standing with his arms folded had muscles well-toned by years of physical labor maintaining the Hinatasou, "This is a privately-owned ryokan, Aoyama-san, and my wife and I have the right to refuse service to anyone... including you. Leave, we won't tell you a third time."

* * *

-o0o-

Hinatasou Girls' Dormitory,  
Years before...

Abandonment was a concept with which Urashima Keitaro had developed a close and understanding relationship. He'd been abandoned by his parents when he refused to give up on getting into Tokyo University and fulfilling his Promise. He'd been abandoned by his grandmother who had called him to the family's inn and left before he ever arrived, never even telling him that she'd turned it into a Girls' Dormitory and wanted him to be the manager while she traveled the world. He'd been abandoned only recently by a girl who had taken his declaration of love as a sign that it was time for her to go on a trip and find herself. The idea that someone could be abandoned by their family for not wanting to move back home from where they were living, even if they weren't completely honest about why they didn't want to leave, didn't surprise him any, not when he actually thought about it. Really, Motoko's whole thing of claiming he was her fiancee and all was more surprising than her family disowning her when they found out the truth.

He wasn't quite as comfortable with Motoko's cleaning-overdrive that she seemed to be in, especially after overhearing one of his friends make a comment about 'nesting'. Fortunately, she had stopped trying to help cook after Shinobu had put her foot down and banished the older girl from 'her' kitchen under threat of wooden spoon.

The other tenants had all showered Shinobu with gifts of gratefulness.

Motoko, totally focused on dusting a set of shelves in the living room, wasn't prepared for Keitaro to reach his arms around her and grab her by the wrists, pulling her away... causing her to notice so many things that she would normally submerge under her former kendoka mindset; the feel of his hands on her wrists; the fact that when he pulled her back, she had ended up with her back against his chest and she could feel it moving; his breath warm against her skin when he started to speak...

"Enough, Motoko," he told her, "This isn't being a woman, this is acting like a child. Show some dignity."

The words burst the bubble that Motoko had surrounded herself with since Tsuruko had made her declaration and she found herself collapsing into Keitaro's arms as tears started to flow.

"Not a warrior... can't be a woman," Motoko managed to get out through her sobs, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Sure you can be a woman, Motoko," Keitaro corrected as he released her wrists and just let his arms settle around her, "You just have to tone it down and just do things naturally instead of trying to force yourself to act like someone else's idea of what a woman is..."

Carefully, Motoko moved around in Keitaro's arms so that she was facing him as she asked, "Tone it down?"

"If you want to help me keep the Hinata clean, that's great, I always need some help, but, uh..." Keitaro carefully pulled up the strap to the apron Motoko was wearing to where she could see it, "You know this isn't a real maid's uniform, right? It's some kind of fetish costume that Kitsune has... I don't want to know why she has it..."

Motoko blushed as Keitaro's statement of what the outfit she was wearing was really for caused all kinds of thoughts that she would have once supressed to flow.

"If you _really _think you need a maid's uniform, I'm sure we can go out and buy you a proper one," Keitaro added, "But why don't you try wearing your normal clothes while you help out first?"

"Okay," Motoko answered softly, wondering where this confident and in-charge Keitaro had come from, if his appearance had anything to do with the facts that without her sword and Naru's fist, he didn't have to fear attack as he had before. To stand up to his parents' demands for him to break his Promise, that would have taken this confidence and determination, would it have not? Had, ancestors, this been what she and Narusagawa had forced into hiding, not perversion? ...And why did it entice her so?


	17. Cashing Out III - Double or Nothing

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 27 August.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cashing Out III"  
'Double or Nothing'  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

David Xanatos descended the steps of his private jet with an expression of distaste on his face.

"I never wanted to come back here... Owen, remind me to tell Mister Yung and his associates that they're fired. I want to do it personally."

At the bottom of the steps, Owen Burnett nodded and adjusted his glasses, "Of course, Mister Xanatos. Your car is waiting to take you to Hinata Springs."

"And the special cargo?" Xanatos asked.

"The special cargo has already been unloaded, sir, it's in the car," Owen informed him.

"Good," Xanatos remarked as he reached the ground, "And my... other suit?"

"Also in the car, Mister Xanatos."

Fox Xanatos shook her head, standing at the top of the steps with their young son in her arms, "David, why did you bring that anyway?"

Xanatos shrugged and answered his wife, "Equaliser; some of the people we're here to deal with never had any problems abusing someone weaker than them... we'll see how they like the shoe being on the other foot if they try anything now."

"The shoe... Or the battlesuit, as the case may be?" Fox asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I like that battlesuit," Xanatos answered blaisely, "Fits better than anything except perhaps a suit from Brooks Brothers."

"Sometimes I think you like that battlesuit more than you like me," Fox retorted as she - with Alexander - descended the stairs to join her husband and Owen on the ground.

"Well," Xanatos replied as he put his hands on his wife's shoulders, "I don't do _this _with the battlesuit."

Then he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips.

"You can't distract me that easy, David," Fox smirked when he pulled away.

"Really?" Xanatos sighed, "One of the people we have to deal with builds attack robots just to pass the time - or at least they did, before - the battlesuit's here just in case I have to fight fire... with firepower."

"In other words," Fox corrected, "You're just an overgrown boy with your favorite toy..."


	18. For All The Wrong Reasons

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 20 September.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. All of that goes for Black Lagoon as well.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"For All The Wrong Reasons"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

"You're taking this well," Okajima Rokuro - known as 'Rock' to most now - commented to the Lagoon Trading Company's latest 'package'.

"Better than you will be," Urashima Keitaro answered, leaning back casually against the side of the boat, "Because I know something you don't..."

"We're used to not knowing all the details about a job," Rock responded, "We'll figure something out."

"Really?" Keitaro chuckled, "How do you figure out something when you've just kidnapped a Tokyo University student who manages his grandmother's dormitory?"

"Trust me, it's not you this is about - our client actually wants your fiance's sister."

Keitaro snorted, "Fiance? I don't even have a girlfriend, what do you mean fiance?"

Rock sighed, sometime part of his job as negotiator meant that he ended up being the one who had to deliver unwanted news, "Urashima-san... information is part of our business; we're well aware of your engagement to Aoyama Motoko, younger sister of Aoyama Tsuruko, both of the leading family of the Shinmeiryuu school. Tsuruko-san is whom our client wishes to deal with and your... acquisition was merely meant to facilitate the meeting."

The former-salaryman-turned-smuggler and negotiator wasn't sure what to make of it when the university student began to laugh.

"That's why you kidnapped me?" Keitaro finally regained enough composure to say, "Seriously, that's why you guys kidnapped me? I hate to break it to you, but Motoko thinks I'm a vile pervert and I think she's a short-tempered conclusion-jumper, we can't stand each other. That 'engagement' you're talking about was a stunt she pulled to try to get out of Tsuruko making her return home to Kyoto; it wasn't real."

"Not real?" Rock raised an eyebrow; this could be an inconvienence.

"Nope," Keitaro answered smugly, "Motoko wouldn't care that I've been kidnapped and she definitely wouldn't bother her sister over it. She's more likely to declare a celebration that I'm gone. So you see, you've kidnapped the wrong guy."

"I see," Rock said flatly, looking hard at Keitaro for a moment before turning and walking into the pilothouse of the boat.


	19. Cashing Out IV - Call

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 24 October.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cashing Out IV"  
'Call'  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

David Xanatos sat at a desk in his room at one of the smaller inns in Hinata Springs, fingers steepled as he looked at the laptop in front of him which he was using for a video conference with Yung Yukio, his attorney in Japan.

"Mister Yung, did I or did I not instruct you to ensure the sell of the property here in Hinata Springs?"

"You did, Mister Xanatos, but -"

"No excuses, Mister Yung," Xanatos shook his head, "I gave specific instructions for your office to deal with the situation regarding the Hinatasou and instead of that I find myself having to come here to resolve the matter personally. I take this as a grevious insult, Mister Yung."

"Mister Xanatos," the half-Japanese, half-Chinese attorney bowed his head, "You have my word no insult was meant by myself or my office. The Aoyama and Urashima are respected here and their word carries much weight in the courts, as does the political pressure which Molmol has as a supplier of advanced technology to those nations around it, including Japan. My words are but a raindrop in an ocean compared to that."

"Yes, I'm well aware of how some people are given un-earned respect and privilege solely because of whom their ancestors are," Xanatos nodded, "Still... I do not like failure, Mister Yung. It leaves me considering whether my interests in Japan remain served by keeping your offices on retainer. Especially when it forces me to do something I would have preferred not to and that is to travel here."

"I understand, Mister Xanatos," Yung answered, "I tried my best to convince them otherwise, but the judge insisted that 'Urashima Keitaro' appear before the court or he would summarily rule in favor of the plantiffs."

"If they insist, then they shall recieve," Xanatos commented, his eye narrowing, "But I doubt they will like what they get..."


	20. Kobayashi Maru

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 16 November.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Kobayashi Maru"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0o-

"I changed the conditions of the test." - Admiral James Tiberius Kirk, on how he beat the '_Kobayashi Maru_'test, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".

-o0O0o-

* * *

Standing on the rooftop of the Hinatasou, it didn't take Urashima Keitaro long to realise that he was caught in a no-win scenario. All the things in his life had led him into a situation which he just couldn't win; several of them, in fact. His parents putting him in the position of either being thrown out or becoming an oath-breaker. The Grandmother who hadn't even told him why she wanted him to come to the family inn he hadn't visited in almost fifteen years until after he was already there - and she wasn't - and he wasn't in a position to refuse her 'request'. The girls who that same Grandmother had given sanctuary and isolated from the realities of the world around them instead of making them have to deal with the fact that the world didn't revolve around them, they could be wrong in their actions and beliefs and that those same actions and beliefs brought with them consequences. The cousin who instead of supporting him when events called for it instead laid out her own brand of abuse simply because she felt like it and could. And, above all others in its own way, there was The Promise. A promise he had made as a child and still after all these years considered himself honor-bound to follow.

Except... he was beginning to question just what honor was. Aoyama attacked him with sword and ki when he was unarmed without even ever bothering to find out what had really happened and claimed that she was protecting the 'honor' of the tenants. His parents had claimed his refusal to settle for anything less than Tokyo University and the repeated ronin status it brought him was a stain on the Urashima family's 'honor'. Granny had wanted him to take over running the Hinatasou while she traveled and he had tried to do so because one was supposed to 'honor' their elders... but was there really in 'honor' in how she had done it? For that matter, what good did his honor do him when it had become nothing more than a weapon for others to use against him?

Just in the short time since he had arrived, he'd experienced the tenants using his honor and sense of duty as manager for their own benefit. They cared not that it was their precious Granny - and Keitaro noted in his mind how strongly he seemed to associate Urashima Hina with them and not with himself - who had appointed him manager; they wanted him gone so that they could do as they wished and delight in it and had even challenged him to a fight against Motoko to keep his 'right' to be manager.

Standing on the rooftop of the Hinatasou, it didn't take Urashima Keitaro long to realise that he was caught in a no-win scenario. As long as he attempted to follow 'honor' he would remain caught in it, because 'honor' pulled in many contradictory directions and left him unable to fulfill 'honor' without losing it in another way. In a way, knowing that made his decision easy. Across the rooftop, Motoko lowered herself into a kendo stance as everyone else watched. Keitaro calmly turned the sword in his hands point down and stabbed it into the roof of the building with all the force of his frustration and resentment at how he had been manipulated by so many people behind the action.

"You win," Keitaro announced, turning and walking away towards the stairs, leaving everyone else on the rooftop wondering what had just happened.


	21. Speed And Reflexes

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 17 November.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creation and property of Ken Akamatsu, used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Speed And Reflexes"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Urashima Keitaro casually twirled the stick he held in his hand. Here, far away from tenants and family, out alone in the woods; here, he could be himself. Not the clumsy ronin that everyone believed him to be. It was foolishness, really. They assumed without knowing the reason for his appearant 'clumsiness'. The truth was both far simpler and far more frightening than they could ever know; they would never know how much effort it took him to move as slow as they did and how much he had to focus on doing it to the detriment of his situational awareness. Out here, he could move at his own pace, taking everything in and not having to worry about people and things around him. It was liberating.

Even the most worldly among the tenants were still foolish little girls, never questioning what they think they saw. They saw an estrangement from his family and his adopted sister as heir to the Urashima family's martial arts only as proof to support their own preconcieved notions that he was a 'worthless, perverted male'. They never stopped to consider other possibilities, possibilities such as the fact that he wasn't the heir to Urashima style martial arts because he didn't practice the Urashima style. As a breeze swept through the woods stirring up the leaves, he remember the words of the man who had founded the fighting style which he _did_ use.

_"Swords are used to kill, fighting techniques are ultimately used to kill... but you know what? You don't have to like it."_

It had been a hundred-fifty years since he had said that, and his fighting techniques and more importantly his philosophy about fighting had been passed down from master to master's student ever since and Keitaro was merely the latest in that line. The distance from his parents wasn't only his refusal to accept less than Tokyo University, but also a simple matter of the discomfort they felt knowing that their son was easily among the most dangerous - most deadly - men alive. Few parents would ever be able to accept such a situation gracefully, he had long since decided, and that lay at the core of their insistance that he take a nice _peaceful_ position working in the candy store. They couldn't understand that to deny what he had been taught would be to deny a part of himself. It hadn't been his second time as a Ronin that had been the cause of being cast out, no matter what they and he would claim, it had been their ultimatum that he leave his fighting style or leave their house. He had left their house.

_"But you know what? You don't have to like it."_

That was one of his problems with Aoyama - she enjoyed it, enjoyed the power a sword gave her and saw fit to use it whenever she could. The Shinmeiryu heir had no grasp of subtlety or restraint. She was the epitome of everything which Keitaro had been taught to not be, had been taught to work against... and if she continued to walk the path which she now was on, eventually he would have no choice but to shed his cloak of 'normalcy' and confront her. And before that could happen, Keitaro knew that he would have to ensure that he was at his best, unweakened by being unable to keep up his practice in the confining surrounding of the Hinatasou. Taking a deep breath, Keitaro picked a target tree and then launched himself into the air, bouncing himself off of first a branch and then another tree to send himself flying towards his target in true 'Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu' style.


	22. Cashing Out V - Queen of Hearts

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 25 November.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Cashing Out"  
'Queen of Hearts'  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

Anyone who saw them walking down the sidewalk would, without knowing further about who they were, believe they were the perfect family. The truth of that would depend on how one choses to define 'perfect family' and whether or not a family consisting of a self-made billionaire with a secret past, a former mercenary and their son with his grandmother's fey-magic filled that definition.

Fox Xanatos shifted their son in her arms as she looked around, "Somehow, I expected some place more... interesting."

"Wait until the robot turtles start flying through the sky," David Xanatos answered in a droll tone, "Besides, I actually grew up in Kyoto. Between the ages of five and twenty, I don't even think I ever visited Hinata Springs."

"If this 'Hinata House' was in your family for hundreds of years," Fox frowned in thought, "How did your parents end up in Kyoto?"

"You know," Xanatos stopped walking and looked at his wife, "I don't think I've ever really thought about it. There's a lot about those days that doesn't make sense now that I've had time to seperate myself from them and look at them without the personal involvement I once had."

Fox's eyebrow arched, "Such as?"

"If the Shinmeiryuu Dojo and the Urashima Bakery were both supposed to be famous in Kyoto, then why did I never hear of the Shinmeiryuu until I came here and Aoyama and her sister know nothing about the bakery?" Xanatos posed, "Or why did no one ever investigate all the strange occurances from robot attack turtles to people flying through the air? Even if I never said anything to the authorities, I'd expect at least one bystander who watched me land to have told someone. One of the tenants was supposed to be a reporter, but I never saw her write or file a story, she spent most of her time losing money on sake and horse races... I know she stole my money at times - so where did she get the money to pay her rent?"

"Shouldn't you know if you were the manager?"

Xanatos snorted gently, "Yet another suspicious factor; maintenance and rent were two entirely seperate accounts at the bank and despite being manager and the property being in my name, I never had access to the 'rent' account - the account was in Urashima Hina's name and I was never made a signatory."

Fox shook her head in disbelief, "And I thought Mother had secrets."


	23. Archeology Today

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 27 December.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. The 'voiceover' speech is from "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade", property of George Lucas and Steven Spielburg.

* * *

-o0O0o-

"Archeology Today"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

* * *

"Archeology is the search for fact, not truth."

-o0o-

Urashima Keitaro looked down the corridor with suspicion visible in his eyes; someone who didn't know what they were looking for would only see dust, cobwebs and the bones of animals that had somehow gotten into the temple. What he saw, however , was the patterns in the dust every meter or so, that there were no cobwebs around those patterns, but the bones seemed to all be to one side or the other of the corridor and only where those patterns crossed the corridor. Looking around, Keitaro found a stone about the right size and moved it over, then gave it a good push to get started rolling down the corridor; he wasn't surprised to see a blade swing out when the stone reached the first pattern in the dust and catch on the rock.

"Traps," Keitaro sighed, "Why are there always traps?"

Picking up another stone, Keitaro walked down the corridor to where the first one had caught the blade and prepared to repeat the process for what he was sure wouldn't be the last time. It wasn't even the first time, just the first time on this expedition. Sometimes, he just found himself stopping and wondering why, no matter where he went whether it was the Pacific islands, South America, Africa, the Subcontinent or anywhere else, all the tombs and hidden temples he ever came across all seemed to have the exact same kinds of traps, no matter the age or the culture. There were some variations - Rasputin's tomb in Moscow had a series of giant hammers instead of blades, for example - but the basic concepts remained the around the world.

-o0o-

"If it's truth you're interested in, Dr. Tyree's Philosophy class is right down the hall."

-o0o-

'_I am definitely having words with the committee about my getting tenure,' _Keitaro thought as he ran, _'Or at the very least a raise!'_

Leaping across the chasm left by a fallen bridge, Keitaro's arms and legs pinwheeled in the air as though it would magically aid him in reaching the other side while behind him a spiked wall reached the end of its track and cut off any thought of turning back. Even though it knocked the breath out of him, it was still a relief when Keitaro felt himself land on solid stone and fall facefirst to the ground.

-o0o-

"So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, or digging up the world."

-o0o-

Sitting with his back against the wall as he caught his breath, Keitaro groaned. If all the records he had found were accurate, he was only halfway through the temple. It was hard to believe, considering that he had thought archeology would be catalouging artifacts and painstakingly slow research and careful digging, just how frequently he seemed to find himself in situations like this one. There were times where he dreamed of a 'simple' discovery that just involved tracking down a site, finding an artifact to confirm it was the location he was looking for, getting funding for an expedition and leading a team back to study the place in a proper 'by-the-book' manner without any death traps, angry native tribes or less-scrupulous rival archeologists - grave robbers and 'tomb raiders' when he wanted to be less politically correct when describing them - adding extra 'excitement' to the occasion. With a frustrated sigh, Keitaro climbed back to his feet, he couldn't go back the way he came, so the only way out would be through the inner chambers of the temple - assuming he could find the Passageways of the Priests.

-o0o-

"We do not follow maps to buried treasure and X never, ever, marks the spot."

-o0o-

Keitaro looked at the shadow being cast by the obelisk, then to the ceiling where he saw a hole allowing in the light of the sun. Frowning, he looked again at the shape of the room as he came to a realisation...

"It's a sundial," Keitaro remarked to himself, pausing to glance at his watch, "Three o'clock... that means that..."

He pointed at the shadow as he thought aloud, "Is three... six... nine... twelve..."

With a point of his hand Keitaro named off each point of the clock, then stopped as a thought occurred to him.

"It couldn't be that easy..."

Carefully, Keitaro walked over to where the shadow would fall at ten o'clock and began to examine the floor. After a few minutes search, he found a turtle carved into one of the stones of the floor.

"What do you know..." Keitaro muttered, "Sometime X really does mark the spot... Now I've just got to figure out how Southeast Asian tribesmen would have known that the Romans used 'X' as the numeral for the number 'ten'..."

-o0o-

"Seventy per cent of all archeology is done in the library, research, reading. We cannot afford to take mythology at face value."

-o0o-

A few days later, Urashima Motoko's focus on writing her latest novel was disrupted by someone sitting a carved jade statue with polished gemstones for eyes right on top of the papers she was working with. Looking up, Motoko's eyes passed over a familiar grin before fixing on those of her husband.

"Better than some tacky tourist-trap knock-off, wouldn't you say, Motoko-chan?" Keitaro quipped.

Motoko merely raised an eyebrow, "And how many injuries will I have to tend to this time, Keitaro-koi?"

"I'm fine," Keitaro told her.

"I see," Motoko stood up and grabbed her husband's wrist, "Bedroom - you're taking the shirt off and I'll see just how many stitches 'fine' needed..."

"Sure," Keitaro teased, easily following along as she pulled him behind her, "If that's your excuse."


End file.
